


Homecoming

by SoDoLaFaMiDoRe



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Family Feels, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Just Jeff and his boys, Spoilers for The Long Reach Pt. 1 and Pt. 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:27:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22852486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoDoLaFaMiDoRe/pseuds/SoDoLaFaMiDoRe
Summary: Jeff reflects on all that's changed returning home.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 40





	Homecoming

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you Lacertae for beta-ing! I slammed this out having a lot of feels after finishing Thunderbirds Are Go, I can't believe it's over! Please enjoy!

He’d kept track of time in space.

As well as he could with no sunrise or familiar stars. His suit had helpfully kept track of every day that passed by, every day away from his family. It had been lonely, so lonely out there. But every time Jeff drifted towards despair, towards forgetting it all, he would look at the etching he’d made of Tracy Island. He had a family, he had his boys, and he needed to get home and see them all again.

Days had turned to weeks, weeks to months, months to years. He’d memorized every important date, and used them to remind himself why he needed to focus on hope. Gordon’s birthday came and went, and he reminisced on that one Valentine’s Day with Lucille, holding her hand as their fourth son came into the world. His anniversary went, and he felt a pang of loss as he remembered her face. Then, as the first year in space passed, he continued to celebrate all the important dates. Humming “Happy Birthday” on each of his children’s birthdays, the tune filling him with bittersweet melancholy, knowing just how much he was missing of each of his son’s lives the longer he was out here.

He would often think of his family. Alan, with his baby teeth slowly giving way to his adult smile. Gordon, waking up at the crack of dawn to swim laps, timing himself to get better and better. Virgil, focusing  _ so hard _ on learning everything he could about machines and art. John, and how he was top of his class in astronaut training. And Scott, finishing out his time in the R.A.F. as an ace pilot. He remembered their faces, even as the memories began to grow fuzzy around the edges.

He often talked to himself. Jeff would tell his boys advice, think back to some of their naughtier moments, and focus on how much he missed them. One year turned to two, and he thought of how much they were changing without him there to see it. Virgil was gangly, a newborn giraffe not sure how to deal with growing. Alan had been so small, only to his waist. John was always so serious, and Jeff would often tell him that he could relax around family. Gordon was always making him laugh, remembering his pranks and jokes. And Scott, he was growing into a fine young man.

When they finally found him, nearly a decade had passed. He barely recognized Alan, having grown so much in his absence. Scott had a touch of premature grey at his temples, same as his mother. Gordon seemed a bit more reserved, John more stoic, Virgil had grown so, so,  _ so much. _ But they were his boys, and the love they had for him and each other had only grown.

Adjusting to Earth again was hard. Even with the love of his family, he had missed ten years. Casey was now a Colonel, Alan graduated High School, and his mother was much older than he remembered. Things such as her terrible cooking grounded him, but he felt like a stranger. An actor, reading from a script of Jeff Tracy’s life. As they filled him in on what he missed, he noticed they left certain information out.

Alan had changed a lot. He wasn’t a little boy missing teeth anymore, he was nearing adulthood and had grown leaps and bounds without his father. He was an ace at flying a rocket, just as much a member of International Rescue as his older brothers were. He wasn’t scared of the dark, he didn’t seem to need his father… and that wounded Jeff, knowing his son had grown used to his absence, used to the pain. He was nearly a man, and Jeff had missed watching him grow. There was friction when they interacted, Jeff only having known Alan as a little boy... it would take time for them to adjust to a new normal of father and son.

The first time Gordon had walked out in a gaudy t-shirt and rolled-up jeans, Jeff had almost cried from the shock. His arm and leg were criss-crossed in scars and surgery marks. Even as he attempted to joke about it Jeff could see how haunted Gordon was by the attack, hidden deep under a mask. Jeff had pressed him, there had been tears, and personally Jeff wanted to rip the Hood’s minions to pieces even though it went against all he had sworn to uphold. His son moved stiffly in the mornings, and there had been a bottle of rarely-used pain pills in his room to help on the worst days. But he was still Gordon, still trying to keep the mood light and play pranks with Alan on his older, serious brothers.

Virgil was so changed. He was a mountain of a man now, able to easily carry others and give some of the best hugs. He was so gentle with his father, considering Jeff’s body was dealing with a lack of proper nutrition and fresh air. Virgil took the most after Grandma, having grown not only his knowledge of engineering, and his skills in art, but medicine too. He played nurse, getting Jeff on a meal-plan and making sure he got adequate sunlight and sleep. Jeff sometimes stopped and looked at the art all around the home now, abstracts and portraits and even a sculpture or two. Virgil sometimes couldn’t express himself through words, not his deepest feelings, but his art spoke his heart where his mouth could not.

John had become so stoic. His smiles were rare after the initial high of meeting wore off, and he was so closed off up in space even with constant radio communication down to Earth. When Jeff had grown strong enough, and Virgil didn’t faint at the idea of the strain it would put, he took the space elevator to visit Thunderbird 5. Humans were not designed to live alone, that much he knew intimately, but John had reassured him he was never lonely, checking in with his brothers. When EOS had moved her rail over, Jeff smiled. It was bittersweet, knowing that in this time somehow he missed having a pseudo-granddaughter who looked at him like a stranger through an inscrutable lens. She informed him quite matter-of-factly that she took care of John, and had even sometimes locked him out of the communications grid to rest, eat, or visit Earth.

Scott had changed as well. Where he had left a young adult, he had returned to a grown man confidently running the show. Tracy Industries had continued to be at the forefront of its field, and Jeff realized they had adapted without him. International Rescue had continued, Scott had kept the company going, and here he was, the head of the organization. He was filled with nothing but pride for his boys, but the grey in Scott’s hair and the stress lines marking his face reminded him just how much he had missed. He just about keeled over when Scott had brought him a beer, with one for himself. His eldest son had passed him a bottle, and they’d stared silently at the waves. Scott didn’t comment on the silent tears that rolled down his father’s aged face, just gave him a side-hug with one arm and held his beer towards him.

“To coming home, dad.”

They clinked their bottles, and stared as the sun sunk below the island’s horizon. This was still home, his family was still his family, and even with all the changes, Jeff knew his children loved him.

That was all he needed.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please comment what you thought!


End file.
